Considerations on the measurement of the stability of oscillators with frequency counters

The most common time-domain measure frequency stability, the Allan variance, is typically estimated using a frequency counter. Close examination the operation of modern high-resolution frequency counters shows that they do not make measurements in the commonly assumed. The consequence is that the re...

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Publié dans:IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control. - 1986. - 54(2007), 5 vom: 29. Mai, Seite 918-25
Auteur principal: Dawkins, Samuel T (Auteur)
Autres auteurs: McFerran, John J, Luiten, André N
Format: Article
Langue:English
Publié: 2007
Accès à la collection:IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control
Sujets:Journal Article
Description
Résumé:The most common time-domain measure frequency stability, the Allan variance, is typically estimated using a frequency counter. Close examination the operation of modern high-resolution frequency counters shows that they do not make measurements in the commonly assumed. The consequence is that the results typically reported by many laboratories using these counters are not, in fact, the Allan variance, but a distorted representation. We elucidate the action of these counters by consideration of their operation in the Fourier domain, and demonstrate that the difference between the actual Allan variance and that delivered by these counters can very significant for some types of oscillators. We also discuss ways to avoid, or account for, a distorted estimation of Allan variance
Description:Date Completed 19.06.2007
Date Revised 17.09.2019
published: Print
Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE
ISSN:1525-8955